Energy Consents - Guidance

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Good Practice Principles For Community Benefits from Onshore Renewable Energy Developments

Community benefits from renewable energy offer a unique and unprecedented opportunity to communities across Scotland. Many developers have individual company policies and approaches which work well to deliver voluntary community benefits, and the Scottish Government has developed national guidance to share and build upon the progress in the field to date to encourage good practice for forthcoming operational projects.

The Good Practice Principles for Community Benefits from Onshore Renewable Energy Developments should be considered by all applicants seeking consent for proposals under Section 36 of the Electricity Act.

Variation of Section 36 consent

Certain electricity generating stations cannot be constructed, extended or operated without a section 36 consent. Section 36 does not provide for section 36 consents to be varied. However, it is not unusual for circumstances to arise in which the ability to vary a section 36 consent would be very useful. The Growth and Infrastructure Act inserted a new section 36C into the Electricity Act 1989 which introduces a procedure for applications to vary section 36 consents and for planning permission to be deemed in connection with such applications.

New Regulations came into force on 1 December 2013 and provide for variation applications to take place in a way that follows closely the existing rules for applications for section 36 consents, and which ensures that the relevant provisions of the EIA Directive are also implemented for section 36 variation applications as they currently are for a section 36 consent.

Scoping

Application

An application pack containing details of the timetable for consent, an application and environmental statement checklist, advert templates, a fees guide and other useful information is available.

Developers are now required to calculate potential carbon losses and savings from wind farms on Scottish peatlands. In 2008, the Scottish Government published research which included an Excel Spreadsheet carbon calculator tool, which developers were encouraged to use. In June 2011, the Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism announced the culmination of further research and the publication of version two of the calculator. He explained that developers are now required to use the tool, which will be validated by SEPA. Full details are available at www.scotland.gov.uk/WindFarmsAndCarbon - including a technical note, the latest version of the calculator, guidance, a report on the update to version two of the calculator, and the research report (Calculating Carbon Savings from Wind Farms on Scottish Peatlands - A New Approach. Nayak et al., 2008; Nayak et al., 2010 and Smith et al., 2011).

It is vital that new projects promote community engagement in the planning process and ensure that barriers to this engagement are minimised. It is therefore good practice that developers when applying for Electricity Act consent in areas where Gaelic is predominantly spoken, place all public notices regarding the development in both the English and Gaelic languages. It is for the developer to ensure that the public notices for their development are translated correctly.

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Environmental

The Peat Hazard and Risk Assessment Guide provides best practice methods to identify, mitigate and manage peat slide hazards and associated risks in respect of consent applications for electricity generation projects in Scotland.

All applications (including those made prior to 1 April 2006) made to Scottish Ministers for consent under section 36 and 37 of the Electricity Act 1989 to construct and operate a electricity generating scheme will require to comply with the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2005. SEPA has produced a useful practical guide about CAR for developers.

Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) are required to be established under the EC Birds and Habitats Directives respectively. In many cases, the same area of land is protected by more than one designation. Further guidance and details of designated sites in Scotland is available on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee website.

Planning

National planning policy on renewable energy is currently set out in the Scottish Planning Policy ( SPP). It encourages Planning Authorities to include renewable energy policies in their development plans and to identify broad areas of search for wind farms. It also identifies the issues which Planning Authorities must consider when deciding planning applications. The policy also applies to our processing of section 36 applications (and will also apply to section 37 where applicable).

The sections of the SPP which concern Landscape and Natural Heritage, Green Belts, and the Historic Environment are also relevant.

Community Benefit

Following public consultation, the Scottish Government has set up a Public Register of community benefits related to renewables projects in order to encourage full transparency on this matter. The Register is currently being managed on behalf of the Scottish Government by Community Energy Scotland (CES) as part of the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES).

Ministers would expect to see developers enter details of all wind farms granted consent in the Register as a matter of good practice.

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Tourism

Economic Research Findings: The Economic Impacts of Wind Farms on Scottish Tourism. Report commissioned by Glasgow Caledonian University to assess whether Government priorities for wind farms in Scotland are likely to have an economic impact on Scottish tourism.

Aviation

There is an obligation to consult with NATS (En Route) plc (NERL) regarding all wind turbine development. When consulted, NERL will provide a response whether it be an objection, no objection or should NERL wish to comment.